United Food union plans to leave AFL-CIO

The United Food and Commercial Workers, with almost 1.4 million members, will join the Teamsters and the service workers in bolting the AFL-CIO, union leaders said Friday.

The departure of the UFCW from the labor federation means the AFL-CIO is losing at least three of it biggest unions, with more than 4 million of its 13 million members and almost $28 million of an estimated $120 million budget.

“The world has changed and workers’ rights and living standards are under attack. Tradition and past success are not sufficient to meet the new challenges,” UFCW President Joe Hansen said in a letter delivered to federation President John Sweeney.